Wednesday, 2 May 2018

UK Games Expo: 1-3 June 2018

Time to get (even more) excited about the UK Games Expo, everyone! Only a month to go until thousands of happy board gamers descend upon the Birmingham NEC and its surrounding hotels to paint the town cardboard.

1-3 June 2018 will be the 12th annual UKGE and the fourth one that I've attended, and each year the event has gone from strength to strength. It's the largest hobby gaming convention in the UK, and with unique attendance topping 16,300 last year it's now one of the largest in the world (fighting it out with Origins for third place). This year they've added an extra hall in the NEC to accommodate everything, so growth doesn't show any signs of slowing down!

There's a lot to cram in to those halls, as the huge map on the UKGE website can illustrate, and you're in no danger of running out of things to see and do.

Shopping

As you'll see on the map, with over 300 companies in attendance there are plenty of opportunities available to buy shiny new games (or shiny old games, with a fab Bring and Buy section). But UKGE is so much more than a shopping trip, giving you the chance to talk to publishers and designers about their new or upcoming releases, or to try out demos of their latest prototypes. Getting to meet the people behind the games you love or having the chance to influence the design process of a new game in the Playtest Zone really makes the convention fun.

I'm planning on making a bit more use of the Family Zone this year, with my little one getting a bit less little and a bit more into his first games. It's sponsored by HABA who make some of his current favourites - so this year I'll be shopping for two!

Seminars and guests

UKGE attracts plenty of well known faces from around the gaming world, this year including Ian Livingstone, author of the Fighting Fantasy series and founder of Games Workshop and game designer Martin Wallace. Tom Vasel of The Dice Tower will be back for another year and will be recording shows at the Expo, as will plenty of other board gaming media types including folks from Gaming Rules!, Shut Up & Sit Down, No Pun Included and Who Dares Rolls.

As well as live podcast and video recordings there are a whole raft of other talks to attend, covering everything from how to GM an RPG to how to run a board game company.

Tournaments

You'll see a big section of the NEC map dedicated to tournaments for people much better at games than me: the Catan, Agricola and Carcassonne UK Championships, the Fantasy Flight European championships including huge X-wing Miniatures and Android Netrunner European Championships and a Legend of the Five Rings Grand Kotei event are all on the slate for this year's UKGE.

Events

As if you hadn't filled your time three times over by now, there is a programme of ticketed entertainment events run across the weekend including:

John Robertson's The Dark Room (I love this show... can I go for a third time? This year with additional kid-friendly showing on the Friday)

Paul Flannery's Knightmare Live and MMORPG (both of which I saw last year, great fun and very nostalgic)

I'm so excited, there's just so much to do! I didn't even get time to talk about everything, like:

The food festival

Viking and Orc encampments (if you're under 10 you can do Orc training, which sounds like the best thing EVER)

RPG and LARP events

Cosplayers

You can read about all of these things and more on the lovely UK Games Expo website, of course, or read more about my previous adventures in 2016 and 2017 where you'll find lots more pictures.

The best bit of any convention is always getting to see your friends and play some fun games. UKGE provides a wonderful environment to do this whilst giving you the opportunity to try new things and meet like-minded people from across the country (and the world!). There's lots of open gaming space available to try out your purchases or play something from the excellent board game library, but demand for the space is high so make sure you stake your claim early to avoid having to play on the grass!

Yep, that's a pizza box. From the awesome food fair!

So if you're new to the board game hobby and thinking about your first trip, do it! Or if you're worrying about coming to UKGE on your own, don't panic! You'll find so many lovely people willing to help you find a game, offer advice and recommendations or just point you in the direction when you're lost. It's a really welcoming environment and I can't wait to go.